Saturday, January 31, 2009

"All our infirmities, whatever they are, are just opportunities for God to display His gracious work in us." CH Spurgeon

I can't help but continue on with what is surrounding us in this world today. In the past year and half, things seem to be getting worse and I think what an opportunity we have to show the world how blessed we are to have a Savior that loves us so much and never leaves our side. As many of us struggle with trials that have entered our lives, what an opportunity we have, as Charles Spurgeon quoted, "What ever infirmities we face,whatever they are, are just opportunities for God to display His gracious work in us."

When we accept what God has allowed through trial or suffering we see it is for a reason, a purpose, God's Purpose, maybe to teach us to trust Him more and not rely on our own understanding, maybe to help us grow in our walk, maybe to comfort someone else that is going through the same thing, maybe showing others the strength we draw from the Lord so that they may seek and question how we can be so strong and we can answer because we find strength in our Lord.... and sometimes, God will use these trials to discipline us for sins we commit. We may not understand why things happen because we are not God, we just have to trust in Him because we know he is a Sovereign God and what ever happens, it is for a reason.

He declares “the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.’” (Isaiah 46:10) “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”
(Proverbs 19:21; see 16:9)

"Christ's priorities of what he wants for you is so different than your priorities, that if you don't begin to get your mind saturated with Jesus' way of thinking, then you won't be able to make sense out of the pain in your life. You tend to get angrier and angrier - because your priorities are, "if he loved me then....."and you provide a list of all your demands and its not his list, it's not the way Jesus thinks, because what he values is hearts that are so enamored with him that that shines more clearly when everything we were leaning on is gone." John Piper

I'm not saying it's easy because at times it is very hard. We have to remember this is the way God has planned it and if we can suffer along with dignity, what an example of Christ we will be. If we show grace and humility, what an example of Christ we will be. If we show love towards our enemies, what an example of Christ we will be. If we show our faith in trials and tribulation, what an example of Christ we will be. If we take up our cross, What an example of Christ we will be.

I have shared this quote by Andrew Murray many times with fellow believers, here on my blog and in my everyday walk because it is such a reminder that God is Sovereign and what ever happens in my life and yours He setting the stage, preparing us for that day when we will be absent from the body and present with our Lord.

"In times of trouble say,
First: He brought me here ; it is by His will I am in this strait place: In that I will rest.
Next: He will keep me here in His love, and give me grace in this trial to behave as His child.
Then: He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me the lessons He intends me to learn, and working in me the grace He means to bestow.
Last:
In His good time He can bring me out again - how and when He knows. Say: I am here(1) by God's appointment(2)in His keeping (3)under His training (4)for His time."

Sunday, January 25, 2009

What path are we on? Is it a path that is all joy or all suffering? No, It is a path of joy even in our suffering. Our joy is in the Lord, our joy is in our salvation, our joy is knowing one day we will enter eternity and live the rest of our lives in the Glory found in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Joy is not the absence of suffering, but the presence of God.

Can you imagine what it will be like when we finally do go home and the final battle is won? Can you just imagine?? When we are in those valleys, remember brothers and sisters, when all is finished,and all His children are together, it will be a place of joy, where there will be no tears nor the sound of crying. We will be in the presence of our Lord, we will do nothing but praise Him and our faces will be fill with joy indescribable, our pain will be wiped out, our worries will be no more, our smiles won't be painted on our faces, they will be real, our hearts will be filled with true love for one another. The valleys will be wiped out as we all stand on the mountain and sing Holy, Holy Holy is our God almighty!! We find joy in our Lord, always. In those times of trouble remember our joy is found in our Lord, look to Him, meditate on His word and you will find joy in those times. We are only here for a short time compared to eternity, knowing that we can find joy.

Revelations 21

6He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

22I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.Peace, beloved, Joy Beloved, Eternity with our Savior.

The religion of Christ is the religion of JOY. Christ came to take away our sins, to roll off our curse, to unbind our chains, to open our prison house, to cancel our debt; in a word, to give us the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Is not this joy? Where can we find a joy so real, so deep, so pure, so lasting? There is every element of joy - deep, ecstatic, satisfying, sanctifying joy - in the gospel of Christ. The believer in Jesus is essentially a happy man. The child of God is, from necessity, a joyful man. His sins are forgiven, his soul is justified, his person is adopted, his trials are blessings, his conflicts are victories, his death is immortality, his future is a heaven of inconceivable, unthought-of, untold, and endless blessedness. With such a God, such a Saviour, and such a hope, is he not, ought he not, to be a joyful man? Octavius Winslow

Saturday, January 17, 2009

How often has providence convinced its observers, upon a sober recollection of the events of their lives, that if the Lord had left them to their own counsels they had as often been their own tormentors, if not executioners! —John Flavel

We can be so distructive when we trust in our own understanding and attempt to accomplish something without the guidance of the Holy Spirit...

Let us consider and marvel that ever this great and blessed God should be so much concerned, as you have heard He is in all His providences, about such vile, despicable worms as we are! He does not need us, but is perfectly blessed and happy in Himself without us. We can add nothing to Him. —John Flavel

He loved us first, He does not need us, nor do we deserve His love...but He does.

You may look upon some providences once and again, and see little or nothing in them, but look "seven times," that is, meditate often upon them, and you will see their increasing glory, like that increasing cloud (1 Kings 18:44).

When our needs are permitted to grow to an extremity, and all visible hopes fail, then to have relief given wonderfully enhances the price of such a mercy (Isa. 41:17-18). —John Flavel

He is shaping us and molding us into His image, He is there brethern, look closely, remember, He will never forsake you. When it seems He is not there, He is.

Those circumstances, which to the dim eye of Jacob's faith wore a hue so somber, were at that very moment developing and perfecting the events which were to shed around the evening of his life the halo of a glorious and cloudless sunset. All things were working together for his good! And so, troubled soul, the "much tribulation" will soon be over, and as you enter the "kingdom of God" you shall then see, no longer "through a glass darkly" but in the unshadowed sunlight of the Divine presence, that "all things" did "work together" for your personal and eternal good. —Arthur W. Pink

Finally remember It will all work out because God is in control and what ever happens, happens for a reason. May we glorify the Lord in all we do. Don't let the flesh lead your life, it will bring you nothing but torment.

There are no accidents in the life of the Christian. ROWLAND BINGHAM

We serve a gracious Master who knows how to overrule even our mistakes to His glory and our own advantage.

God often takes a course for accomplishing His purposes directly contrary to what our narrow views would prescribe. He brings a death upon our feelings, wishes and prospects when He is about to give us the desire of our hearts.John Newton

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Suffering is a short pain compared to what eternity has for the believer. Charles Spurgeon said "It is the very joy of this earthly life to think that it will come to an end." We have so much to look forward to when we go to be with our Savior and the time we are given here on earth should be a time of thanksgiving even in the trials and tribulations we are facing or will face. I'm not saying it's not tough because it can be, it is how we deal with it, that will count in eternity. Spurgeon also said "You must go into the furnace if you would have the nearest and dearest dealings with Christ Jesus. Whenever the Lord appears, it is to his people when they are in a militant posture. Moses saw God at Horeb, but it was in a burning bush, Joshua saw Him, but it was with a drawn sword in his hand, to show that his people are still a militant people. And here (Daniel 3:25) where the saints saw the savior, it was as himself in the furnace. The richest thought that a Christian can perhaps live on is this, that Christ is in the furnace with him. When you suffer, Christ suffer."

The bleakness we see ahead of us because of the Economy, because of trials in our lives that are happening, we as Christians, have a light that guides us in how we will respond.In all the hardships we have experienced, the pain we have suffered, the disappoints from others we deal with....we have to remember the suffering Jesus dealt with on the cross for the sin we have practiced, the pain he endured for all the wrongs we have done, the nails that were pierced through His body so that we could live for eternity without the guilt we deserve. When I look at the cross I look at what pain I caused my Lord and look at trials in my life and see how pitiful I am to complain. Lord Forgive me.

During the past night I have again been called to
suffer much bodily affliction and very severe pain--
but was favored with such sweet comfort from my
precious Savior that it seemed light; nay, I thought
I could willingly bear a life of such suffering--if I
might constantly enjoy His presence!

Oh, how delightful was the hope of an eternity of
glory, and how sweet the thought that when life's
journey was ended, the veil would be drawn aside,
and no cloud ever again intervene to hide from my
soul, even for one moment, the lovely countenance
of my adorable Jesus!

Ten thousand thanks to you, dearest Savior, for this
love-glimpse! I long for more tokens of Your love,
and thirst for more constant communion with You!

Such is my frailty, that I am ever prone to sin. Come,
precious Jesus! chase away these thick clouds, and
let me behold Your lovely countenance, and be so
captivated with Your charms, that I may never more
give my heart to earthly objects!

-Ruth Bryan

“Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?” (Lamentations 3:37-38; see Amos 3:6)

He declares “the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.’” (Isaiah 46:10)
“The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.” (Proverbs 16:33)

Therefore, “if God is for us, who can be against us? . . .Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:31-37).

He has a plan and remember what ever we go through it is a part of His plan for in th end to bring Him all the Glory and that should be our desire...

Thursday, January 01, 2009

(Rev 5:11-12 NASB) "And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.""

(Phil 2:8-11 NASB) "And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Rom 12:15 (NNAS) Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

John 4:23 (NNAS) But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.

1 Chr 16:29 (NNAS) Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him; Worship the LORD in holy array.

Psa 146:2 (NNAS) I will praise the LORD while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

1 Chr 16:29 (NNAS) Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him; Worship the LORD in holy array. Psa 146:2 (NNAS) I will praise the LORD while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

Graham Truscott - "When God's people begin to praise and worship Him using the Biblical methods He gives, the Power of His presence comes among His people in an even greater measure."

Charles H. Spurgeon - "God is to be praised with the voice, and the heart should go therewith in holy exultation."